Capital History

Over fifty undergraduate students taking Professor Dean’s HIST 2811 An Introduction to Public History from Memory to Museums course researched stories for the National Capital Commission’s 120th Anniversary Project led by NCC staff. Students were divided into eleven teams and project manager was Carleton History PhD student Breanna Lester. Twelve new kiosks were installed along […]

The photograph that you see at Carling and Parkdale features laboratory technician Sharon Argue (standing on the far right) inspecting new medical equipment during Governor General Roland Michener’s visit to her laboratory in the late 1960s. Sharon began working as a laboratory technician (now known as a laboratory technologist) at the Grace Hospital in Ottawa […]

Quiet, discreet, and close to queer-friendly locations within Ottawa’s downtown core, Major Hill’s Park was an important gay cruising spot in Ottawa during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Its location and landscaping provided a sense of privacy at a time where 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals risked social stigma, physical harm, and persecution at work. Overlooking the river, […]

From 1912 until the mid- 1960s, thousands of trains pulled into Ottawa’s Union Station each year, adding to the hustle and bustle of life in the capital. Constructed between 1909 and 1912 by the Grand Trunk Railway Company, the station was taken over by the government of Canada after the Company ran into financial difficulties […]

Malak Karsh was born in Turkey in 1915 and followed his photographer brother Yousuf to Canada in the 1930s.  Malak had a deep appreciation for Ottawa’s landscape and wanted to capture thesurrounding beauty of every season. His first photograph to gain fame was popularly known as “Paper and Politics”. It graced the back of the […]

  In the 1870s and 1880s horse-drawn trams operated by the Ottawa City Passenger Railway Company were the major mode of public transport in the nation’s capital. Founded largely by Thomas McKay, the horse car service transported 273,000 passengers in its first year of operation. It travelled from New Edinburgh to the Chaudière Bridge, weaving […]

La Salle Academy, named after the founder of the Christian Brotherhood, was a leading educational institution in Ottawa for decades as a non-denominational French language school. Providing education at both primary and secondary levels, it welcomed students from the Irish and French Catholics, as well as Protestants.   Although the Academy faced challenges and even […]

In this beautiful watercolour of Bytown (later Ottawa) in 1841 by John Bainbridge, we can clearly see the home of Ottawa’s founder, Lieutenant-Colonel John By. Credited as Ottawa’s founder, By was responsible for overseeing the construction of the Rideau Canal and helping shape Bytown’s development. Built atop what is now Major’s Hill Park, his house […]

Métis leader Louis Riel was placed on trial for high treason in July 1885 for his leadership of the North-West Resistance. Held in Regina rather than his home province of Manitoba to avoid a sympathetic jury, Riel was found guilty and sentenced to death. Against Riel’s wishes, his lawyers pleaded insanity on his behalf in […]

The original Tin House was designed and built by Ottawa tinsmith Honoré Foisy in the early 1900sand stood at 136 Guigues Street in Lower Town. Constructed from prefabricated aluminum elements in a Queen Anne Revival-style, the facade was likely intended to showcase Foisy’s skills and the products he offered. When it was to be demolished […]